Style and rarity of jewels transcend commercial value
New York-based Siegelson produces only the finest objects, designed without compromise. Kitty Go reports inHong Kong.
To most people, an obvious show of wealth may come in the form of a sparkling, large diamond of perfect quality and proportions. But to a select few, the style and rarity of jewels transcend commercial value and the need for the blatant display of wealth.
Erudite collectors go to New Yorkbased Siegelson where they will find only the finest objects, designed without compromise. The pieces go beyond the ordinary and are the complete opposite of commercial and mass-produced jewelry evident in retail today. As company president Lee Siegelson says: “The 10 percent of 10 percent of the market is our clientele, the one that can appreciate pieces beyond intrinsic value.”
He stresses that whether it is emeralds, rubies, other precious stones or signed jewelry, there is less and less to choose from at a top-quality level. “Hopefully, clients will come through with a depth of things to consider at our price points ($150,000-$5 million and counting) but at always the top 10 over 10 quality,” he says.
Lee is a third-generation descendant of Louis Siegelson, who founded the company in New York in 1920 where he sold and repaired watches. In 1940, his son Herman started selling diamonds and became one of the most popular jewelry retailers and suppliers in New York’s Diamond District.
Today, Lee uses this experience and has refined the inventory to sell only the best and rarest stones set in designs that enhance their beauty. He has also made a name for himself as an authority and respected source for important estate and contemporary jewelry and watches from 1850 to the present, especially objets d’art from the 19th century to 1930s such as rare clocks, jeweled music boxes and home accessories. The inventory has an equal representation of large and rare stones and design-driven collectables from the finest makers.
Every piece in Siegelson’s inventory is the result of screening with a curatorial eye, offering only the best examples from significant periods by important makers. Many signed pieces come not only with a provenance of ownership but also historical, artistic, editorial and/or catalogue documentation.
Siegelson does not merely run a respectable business. From Manhattan to Moscow, museum curators, editors, historians, auction house specialists and other industry professionals rely on his judgment and thus, his inventory, in many ways. (Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel and Francois Curiel of Christie’s are among his many authoritative fans.)
The Cole Porter Necklace, for example, is an aquamarine-studded necklace with ruby accents fashioned like a belt designed by Duke Fulco di Verdura for American jeweler Paul Flato in 1935. This particular piece (worth nearly $2 million), christened such after its owner, is on the cover of the book Paul Flato:
Jeweler to the Stars. It appeared in Harpers Bazaar in 1935, American Vogue in 1944 and, recently, Karl Lagerfeld used it as an inspiration for a belt in the Chanel Paris-Byzance collection of 2011.
The Baron de Rothschild Art Deco necklace, made by Cartier in 1924, has two large emeralds, sapphire beads with Indian Mogul floral carving and diamond rondelles. It will be lent to the Denver Art Museum for a Cartier exhibition from October 2014 to January 2015. A Van Cleef & Arpels diamond-studded bangle with a pear-shaped diamond and sapphire of 3 and 3.5 carats respectively was featured in three reference books and three exhibitions of the French brand at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, Cooper-Hewitt in New York and the Mori Arts Center in Tokyo.
“Jewelry is between the worlds of intrinsic value, design and rarity. Paintings have a value but you can’t rip them apart like jewelry where you can use the gold and stones,” explains Siegelson. Thus, he considers every piece a work of art with him as the dealer, promoter and educator. This is why Siegelson participates in the most prestigious art fairs. He is a regular exhibitor and favorite at art fairs such as the Paris Biennale des Antiquaires, Masterpiece London, Baselworld and for the past three years, Fine Art Asia in Hong Kong.
The Asian market accounts for 25 percent of Siegelson’s business, which is primarily American. He views the Hong Kong fair as “part of the education process” and developing a clientele that “is confident and comfortable buying from me ... Three years is a short period of time to educate a market and develop a long-term one”. He cites Parisian jeweler Fouquet as a maker not well-known and loved in Asia but famous in the West.
Aside from his expertise and unparalleled salesmanship, he backs up facts and provenances with museum catalog and reference books and, more importantly, very detailed specifications based on research, testing, current and historical brand information.
“No one wants to be lectured to. If you are on a journey to see different and beautiful things such as the important pieces I have, then I will explain the pieces to you,” he says.
He used two diamond-studded Cartier Belle Epoque bows of varying prices to illustrate how he would educate a client.
On the surface, the older one from 1904 with more than 900 diamonds and a total weight of more than 40 carats would seem more expensive than the other from 1913, with about 700 diamonds and a total weight of 30 carats set in rock crystal. But the latter has been in three major museum exhibitions in the past six years and will be on loan to the Denver Art Museum next year (at the same exhibition the Rothschild necklace will be shown). To connoisseurs, the importance of the necklace extends beyond the maker and exhibitions.
“Hong Kong is the only market where women can come in and decide to buy a $2 million piece without asking their spouse’s permission,” Siegelson says.
“Their tastes are also changing from merely large stones to old Indian Jewelry and Golconda diamonds.”
He exhibited a 61.5 carat golden antique cut Golconda diamond (La Splendeur Doree/The Golden Splendor) at the Hong Kong Fair, and sold a large, jewel-studded ivory elephant objet d’art which looked Indian but was really Japanese.
Siegelson likes to say that his business goes “beyond a certificate” (of authenticity) and that doing something well based on trust, taste and the strong reputation of selling only the best are what attracts and keeps his customers loyal. Everything he offers will stand and has stood the test of time — proof that their importance in the past is just as signifiant today as in the future. He believes that a well-made item of jewelry is like a well-made piece of furniture.
But, he always tells clients, documentation and provenance aside, before buying anything, “Most of all, you have to love it!”